Those of you who had your FightPicker pools ruined by Rich Clementi’s second-round TKO loss at King of the Cage on Saturday night may have found yourselves drinking stale coffee in your squalid apartments on Sunday morning, staring out the dirty window at the stray cats stalking the dumpsters in the alley and wondering aloud, ‘How the hell did Clementi get beat by Quinn Mulhern? Who the hell is Quinn Mulhern, anyway? And why is my life so horribly depressing?’

The answer to at least one of those questions can be found in a UG post by “No Love” himself, who explained his sub-par performance thusly:

I just want to apologize for such a shitty performance at King of the Cage last weekend. I went into the fight with a minor sinus infection but had no idea what was in store. The day of the fight I was warming up in the cage for a few minutes felt decent and ready to go. Me and Travis were called in the back to see the doc and I spit up some flem but it was a handful of blood. I thought it was due to my sinus infection and just blew it off. I have never been so CRIPPLED IN A FIGHT in my life! I could not even move in the second round. My chest felt like it was going to explode. I came home Sunday and seen my physician today and he said I had altitude sickness. I have never even heard of this before and had no idea. This was the worst fight of my career and I truly feel embarrassed.

The fight took place at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino in Mescalero, New Mexico, so you could argue that Clementi should have been able to look at the name of the joint and figure out that high altitudes would be involved. Honestly, no self-respecting Mountain God would call any place lower than six thousand feet home, and we all know it.

But if Clementi is to be believed, he somehow made it to his mid-thirties without ever hearing about the existence of altitude sickness. The fight took place at about 9,000 feet, which is about 8,997 feet higher than Clementi’s hometown of Slidell, Louisiana. His opponent trains at around 7,000 feet in Sante Fe, New Mexico. One of these men was prepared for the conditions on Saturday night, and the other was Rich Clementi.

As much as we’d like to extend some sympathy to Clementi for what was obviously and unpleasant and embarrassing night in his career, how do you not know about the effects of altitude on the body? Anyone who has ever heard about high-altitude training should have at least wondered what that was all about, particularly if that person is a professional athlete, and particularly if they had just agreed to a fight at a casino called the Inn of the Mountain Gods. Sometimes even just a little bit of intellectual curiosity goes a long way.

Cagepotato Comments

Showing 1-25 of comments

Clementi is a joke and his excuses make things worse. I am still trying to figure out why he is considered a UFC veteran even though he has accomplished so little in the UFC. He puts on local shows where he ponces on some kid who thinks he wants to try out MMA and parades around the octagon like he beat Anderson Silva. If he and his wife would stop the swinging thing, then maybe...nah,nevermind, he would still suck.

bradleythomas- February 16, 2010 at 8:32 pm

Clementi's never heard of altitude sickness?? What's next, is he going to call Joe Rogan for some "high altitude" training? Fucking Dipshit.

It's time for him to be thrown into a pool of molten magma so that the rest of us no longer have to see him or hear about him. He can get in line behind that Koppenhaver douche and Mr Big Head himself, Kornhole Ortiz.

Then on the count of three the giant hook from the Gong Show comes out and pulls all three of these losers into the magma pit. Fuck, now that's a PPV event that will make billions. Get DW on the phone, bitches.

NECROPHYTE- February 16, 2010 at 2:00 pm

So much for a return to the UFC, you lost to a fkn boy scout Rich!!!!! Godamitt i was pulling for you homes!!!:/

Jonny5- February 16, 2010 at 12:31 pm

as someone who rides snowboards I often go up and down as high as 10000 feet .. never affected me or anyone else I know... I thought that shit happened way higher thatn 9K ft.

Horror Fighter- February 16, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Damn, I almost selected Yes for the "Will Rich Clementi lose due to altitude sickness?" question in FightPicker. I could have won 100 chips.

El Famous Burrito- February 16, 2010 at 11:46 am

@ bpd

Nice.

parchy mcthirst- February 16, 2010 at 11:12 am

I had never even heard of the internet before and had no idea...that's why I signed up for AOHELL

Frank Dux- February 16, 2010 at 10:56 am

It's spelled SANTA Fe.

JU5TBL33D- February 16, 2010 at 10:39 am

I call BULL on Clementi. AMS does occur (though, very rarely) above 9k feet, but his symptons do not at all fit it.

I've gotten accute mountain sickness at 11.5k, 13k and 16.5k feet. It basically feels like a huge hangover, you are dizzy, disoriented, nauseous and have a fuk-off headache. No flem... no blood.... no chest pains whatsoever. Doctors are still trying to find out what causes AMS, consensus says ascending too fast, but it can happen to anyone. I live at sea level and drove up to 10,000 feet, went the next day to 13,900 and back down to ~100 feet by the end of the weekend several times, been fine. I've never heard of anyone getting it at 9k.

Clementi gets 'no love' from me.

Just bleed, ok? Thanks man. Thanks.

kerouac- February 16, 2010 at 10:38 am

He didnt have no altitude sickness - he had himself a case of the hibbidy-jibbidies. He shouldve had 2 bowls of gumbo and got himself to church he wouldve been fine

bpd- February 16, 2010 at 10:22 am

What's worse is he tried to console himself with a cake but didn't realize there were high-altitude baking directions. The cake cooked too long, at too low a temperature, the flour was dry and there was too much baking soda. Thing came out like a devil's food brick.

El Famous Burrito- February 16, 2010 at 9:39 am

Fuck you, Rich Clementi.

Fuck you and your googly eye.

If I ever see you on the street I...probably won't say or do anything.

But when you walk away, I'll be thinking "There goes that fucking asshole that cost me a bunch of pretend money and the ability to brag to people I've never met over the internet."

So....yeah. Think about that.

Turd.

Get Off Me- February 16, 2010 at 9:22 am

Has Rich been training with Tito lately?

No love for you Clementi!

clutchy hopkins- February 16, 2010 at 9:11 am

rich clementi is wack

SiDeBuRnZ- February 16, 2010 at 8:59 am

sometimes it sucks being high while fighting... Oh wait was this about Diaz or Clementi?